Improvement in cleaning wool of burrs



UNITED STATES '1' FFIOE.

THOMAS CROSSLE Y, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLEANING WODL OF BURRS, &c.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 141,03Q, dated July 22,1873 application filed July 2, 1873. v

To all whom it may concern Q Be it known that I, THOMAS ORossLEY, ofBridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, haveinvented an Improved Process of Cleaning Wool, of which the following isa specification:

Wool of all grades is mixed more or less with vegetable matters, andespecially with burrs, the beard or claws covering which become soentangled with the fibers of the wool that it is utterly impossible toremove the burrs by mechanical means alone without injuring the fiber ofthe wool until these claws have first been disintegrated. The mostsuccessful chemical process of disintegrating the beard of the burrheretofore practiced c011- sisted in treating the Wool with an aciduloussolution, in which it remained immersed until the beard of the burrbecame sufficiently corroded to crumble under the action of theburrpicker. The acidulous solution, to be effective upon the heard ofthe burr, had to be made so strong that it attacked the fiber of theWool also, and to a certain extent injured its luster and fullingquality. The object of my invention is to provide a chemical process fordisintegrating the beard of the burr and other vegetable matters mixedwith and entangled in wool without injuriously affecting the fiber-ofthe wool; and it consists in passing sulphuric acid or sulphurous-acidgas through the wool.

In practicing. my process the wool, after having been thoroughly washedand secured and again dried in the hydro-extractor, is spread loosely toa thickness of, say, four or six inches, upon a rack elevated about fourfeet above the floor of the bleach-house. The

rack may be made of boards set up on edge, about an inch and ahalfapart. The sulphurous-acid smoke, being introduced under the rack, risesand penetrates every particle of wool spread upon it, corroding anddisintegrating the beards of the burrs and every atom of vegetablematter entangled in it withoutin the least corroding or otherwiseinjuring the fibers of the Wool. After this treatment the wool is againthoroughly dried, and subsequently subjected to the action of theburr-picker, which at once reduces the beards of the burrs and seeds todust, to be removed by currents of air passed through the wool,) andreadily extracts the berry or body of the burr or seed from the woolwithout breaking its fiber.

The sulphurous acid or sulphuric acid may be generated by burningsulphur and saltpeter, mixed in the proportion of one part, by

weight, of saltpeter to live parts, by weight, of sulphur, in a suitablevessel placed under the rack carrying the wool.

VVhatI claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The process of disintegrating the beard of burrs, seeds, and othervegetable matters entangled in wool by passing a sulphuric orsulphnrous'acid smoke through the wool, substantially as specified.

In testimonywhereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOS. OROSSLEY.

Witnesses:

HERMAN BEACH, O. H. A. BROTHW LL.

